Reuters reported that Blinken said that Iran’s decision to bar some UN nuclear inspectors shows that Tehran does not want to be a responsible actor in its nuclear program.
“We tried to work indirectly with Iran as well as with European partners and even Russia and China to see if we can get a return to compliance with the Iran nuclear deal … But Iran couldn’t or wouldn’t do that,” Blinken told reporters.
He did not mention that the United States, despite Iran’s full adherence to the JCPOA obligations, unilaterally withdrew from this nuclear agreement and initiated a policy of maximum pressure against Iran.
The International Atomic Energy Agency earlier said that Iran had withdrawn accreditation from several inspectors, a move Teheran described as retaliation for “political abuses” by the United States, France, Germany, and Britain.
Claiming that failure to cooperate will carry severe consequences, IAEA chief Rafael Grossi said, “If they do not cooperate with the IAEA, they will not get what they want: the assurances they want to see, the confirmation they want to see, the approval of the international community.”
In his statement, Grossi condemned what he called Iran’s “disproportionate and unprecedented” move to withdraw the designation of the agency’s several “most experienced” inspectors assigned to conduct verification activities in the country under the NPT Safeguards Agreement.
Last Wednesday, the IAEA’s Board of Governors issued a Western-sponsored statement that accused Iran of non-compliance with its safeguards commitments.
The document, signed by 62 member states of the agency, called upon Iran to take steps to address outstanding safeguards issues and provide the IAEA with information concerning its new nuclear facilities.
Separately on Wednesday, the three European signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal, France, Britain, and Germany, also issued a joint statement on the sidelines of the meeting of the IAEA’s Board of Governors.
They accused Iran of non-compliance with the nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), even though it was the United States that unilaterally abandoned the deal in 2018 and put its fate in limbo
Kan’ani rejected the politically motivated statement, saying Iran and the IAEA have made “considerable progress” in boosting cooperation based on a joint statement issued in March.
The United States and the three European parties to a 2015 nuclear agreement have abused the UN nuclear watchdog with the purpose of achieving their own political objectives.
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